thanks chaps, that was really puzzling me
I guess this type of situation is far more common than I realised.
Hippy, I don't think its that common to have gear down over the city as I live in Hammersmith (I'd guess about 6-7 miles from Heathrow) and virtually everyone coming in seems to put their wheels down over this side of town.
Also, thanks for the advice - In future, I'll try to make sure that planes I'm in always have their gear down when landing.
